Some Lower Blood Pressure With Chiropractic Visit

The above headline comes from a May 6, 2010 feature story on the Pittsburgh, PA, TV News station KDKA. The story starts off by noting that millions of people have high blood pressure. And they note that if left untreated it can be deadly.

Most people treat blood pressure with medication. However, the story notes that some people are turning to chiropractic for help. As a result, these people are seeing improvement in their blood pressure numbers.
The story focused on Dr. Michael Vactor who stated in an interview that, “Basically, one in four adults in America have some form of high blood pressure.”
The article also quoted Bill Bird, a patient who is now sold on chiropractic. Bill has a very stressful job selling cars resulting in high blood pressure requiring prescription medication. After a few visits to the chiropractor, his blood pressure had improved to the point where his medical doctor cut his medication in half. Looking to the future, Bill optimistically stated, “30 to 45 days of my blood pressure staying at the levels it is, I’m going to be off it 100 percent.”
In spite of the fact that studies have now shown that chiropractic can help lower blood pressure, some in the medical profession are still skeptical. Dr. Vactor noted, “If we can get somebody’s blood pressure to be lowered without medication, it’s amazing because most doctors you talk to will tell you it can’t be done.”
The article also interviewed Dr. George Bakris, a medical doctor whose expertise is high blood pressure, and who conducted a blood pressure study involving chiropractic on 50 patients at the University of Chicago Medical School. “We saw miraculous changes in blood pressure,” said Dr. Bakris. “We saw 12 to 13 millimeter reductions in blood pressure.”
In the conclusion of the article, Dr. Vactor noted that in spite of the medical approach to treat high blood pressure, chiropractic could have a unique answer. He states, “We’ve never been able to find a drug or a medication that can lower blood pressure that fast with no side effects.”